Toy building-block



W. S. SHIELDS.

TOY BUILDING BLOCK. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 22. 1920.

Patented July 19, 1921..

INVENTOR h'z ZZz a/n Scolt Shields,

ATTORNEYS WITNESSES W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TOY BUILDING-BLOCK.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 19, 1921.

Original application filed March 8, 1920, Serial No. 363,970. Divided and this application filed June 22, 1920. Serial No. 390,699.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM Soo'r'r SHIELDS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Yardley, in the county of Bucks and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Toy Building-Blocks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in toy building blocks, and has for its object to provide a block of the character specified by means of which many different articles may be constructed, merely by connecting the blocks with each other, as, for instance, buildings, vehicles, terrestrial, aerial and marine, as well as many other diflerent devices, without the necessity of any means other than the blocks themselves for making the connections.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a simple structure composed by the blocks;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing another structure;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the blocks.

The improved blocks are designed to be marketed in sets, the number and character of blocks in a set depending upon the price at which the set is to be sold.

The present application is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 363,- 970, filed March 8, 1920.

The improved block consists of a strip or plate 1, which may be of any suitable material, preferably of wood, and this block is provided at each end with a series of longitudinally extending notches or recesses 2, which form at each end of the block a series of tongues 3 extending longitudinally from the block. The block is also rovided with a plurality of series of longitudinally extending mortises 4 intermediate its ends, and these mortises form between them and between the side edges of the block bars 5, which are adapted to engage the notches or recesses 2 of other blocks.

In the block shown in Fig. 3 two series of mortises 4 and bars 5 are provided. The members of the series are spaced apart from each other and the are spaced apart from the tongues 3,the distance between each set of tongues and the adjacent set of tongues being approximately the same as the distance between the sets of bars. It will be understood that the blocks will be provided with varying numbers of sets of bars, some of the blocks having two sets, some one set and others more than two sets, if desired. The

blocks, however, are all alike in that each has at each end a series of longitudinally extending tongues, and the distance between the adjacent tongues is the same as the width of the bars. Thus the bars of each block will fit tightly into the notches or mortises of other blocks, thus permitting structures to be built by the interengagement gf the tongues with each other and with the ars.

These mortises 4 are of a length greater than the width of the blocks, so that a block may pass longitudinally through the mortise of another block, as shown in Fig. 2, either at a right, obtuse or acute angle, and the blocks are held frictionally in the mortise by the engagement of the bars with the faces of the blocks, that is, the mortises are a close fit on the faces of the blocks.

In Fig. 1 there is shown a block 6 which has tongues 7 at each end and one series of mortises intermediate its ends, forming a set of bars 8.

All of the tongues and all of the bars of all of the blocks are flexible, and the arrangement permits the dove-tailing of the blocks together. They maybe cheaply constructed and sold at a reasonable price, and it is obvious that the blocks might be of sheet metal if desired. Preferably, however, they are of wood. Many different combinations may be worked from even a few blocks.

I claim:

1. A block of the character specified having at each end a series of longitudinally extending tongues, and having intermediate its ends series of parallel mortises forming between them and between the side edges of the block sets of bars, said tongues and bars,

being of equal width, and of the same width as the spaces between them, and of a length greater than the width of the block.

2. A toy one piece block of the character specified having at each end a series of longitudinally extending tongues, and having intermediate its ends series of parallel mortises forming between them and between the side edges of the block sets of bars, said tongues and bars being of equal width, and of the same width as the spaces between them.

3. A toy one piece block of the character specified having at each. end. a series of body of elongated formation having its ends formed with longitudinal slots defining spaced tongues, said body being provided 10 intermediate its ends with spaced openings to receive the tongues of simila bodies.

IVILLIAM SCOTT SHIELDS. 

